Katie Melua’s extraordinary journey continues with the release of her third album ‘Pictures’, an album that will delight her legions of fans, confirm Katie’s status as a unique and remarkable vocalist, and reveal the third chapter in what is destined to be a long musical career.Since the release of Katie’s debut album ‘Call Off The Search’ in 2003, the 22 year old has achieved astonishing success. In 2004 and 2005 Katie was the best selling female artist in Britain and in 2006 she became the best selling British female artist in the world sales of her first album and the follow up, 2005’s ‘Piece By Piece’, have now topped 7.5 million. No mean feat for a singer on an independent record label and one who goes about her business in a quiet and dignified manner avoiding the media hoopla and industry trappings.That level of success can turn many a previously level head, so did Katie feel the pressure to produce a certain kind of album when she started recording ‘Pictures’?"The one thing that I’ve learnt from making three albums is that you don’t know what is going to happen when you start recording."The fact that I am a bit older, have different interests, have more experiences, and that I have grown and developed as an artist means that this album would be different in some way from the first two.
"I would not want to just try and emulate the success of the previous albums but I also don’t feel the need to change for change’s sake or to please anyone other than myself." explains Katie.
The pretty and poetic musical tribute to the greats of the silver screen’s golden days ‘Mary Pickford’ sets the tone for the record, as well as inspiring the title.
The hopeless romanticism of ‘It’s All In My Head’ and the optimism of love in the face of global devastation in ‘If The Lights Go Out’ are juxtaposed by the bittersweet tale of love and loathing of ‘What I Miss About You’.
Known and loved for singing open-hearted ballads, Katie does not disappoint with the first single ‘If You Were A Sailboat’ set to follow previous lead singles ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’ and ‘Nine Million Bicycles’ on to the airwaves. ‘Perfect Circle’, on which Katie teams up with co-writer Molly McQueen, is another classic Katie Melua song that could easily take up the mantle of a single.
The filmic theme continues with ‘Scary Films’ and the spaghetti-western-essenced ‘Dirty Dice’ which sees Katie partnering on the songwriting with Andrea McEwan. The album closes with Katie’s recording of the Leonard Cohen penned ‘In My Secret Life’.
I’m really proud of ‘Pictures’ says Katie of the finished album. It definitely feels like the third part of the trilogy that Mike and I have collaborated on as a creative team. It stays true to what we have always tried to focus on - the lyrics and melody, with emotional songs that hark back to the roots of songwriting.